The Self-assessment for Organizational Capacity Instrument for evidence-informed health policy: preliminary reliability and validity of an instrument

[Cross-cultural adaptation of "Is research working for you? A self-assessment tool" in Brazil]

The scope of this article is to translate and adapt the tool "Is research working for you? A self-assessment tool and discussion guide for health services management and policy organization," which self-assesses the institutional capacity of Health organizations to Acquire, Evaluate, Adapt and Apply scientific evidence in policy decision-making. It is a methodological, analytical study with a quantitative and qualitative approach. A sample of managers was used (n=99), representing 24 Brazilian health organizations, between October 2018 and November 2020. Proposed adaptations were made in a consensual way after adjustments of the disagreements of the expert committee - Kappa coefficient [0.41; 0.43 and 0.74]. Tool 4A, Brazilian version, had semantic, idiomatic, experimental, and conceptual equivalence with the original. The value of Cronbach's Alpha was 0.961; the value of the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient was 0.960. Tool 4A is valid and reliable in Brazil in terms of internal consistency and content. Its application is a catalyst for actions to structure institutional capacities to make the use of scientific evidence systematic in the decision-making processes of health organizations.

Reliability and Validity of a Life Course Passive Smoke Exposure Questionnaire in an Australian Cohort From Childhood to Adulthood

OBJECTIVES

Life course exposure to passive smoke may predict health, but there are few validated measures. We tested the reliability and validity of a retrospective life course passive smoking questionnaire.

METHODS

Participants from the third follow-up of the Childhood Determinants of Adult Health study (2014-2019, ages 36-49 years) retrospectively reported mother/father/other household member smoking when living at home during childhood, including duration (years) and smoking location (never/sometimes/always inside house). The severity of exposure index (SEI; sum of mother/father/other years smoked multiplied by smoking location), cumulative years of exposure (CYE; sum of mother/father/other years), and total household smokers (THS) were derived. The reliability of retrospective passive smoking reports was examined with intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) using household smoking reported 34 years earlier in 1985 by participants when aged 7-15 years. Construct validity was examined by correlating retrospective passive smoking with participants' smoking in adulthood and lung function in childhood and adulthood.

RESULTS

Among 2082 participants (mean±standard deviation [SD], 45.0±2.5 years; 55.2% females), THS ranged from 0 to 5 (mean± SD, 0.9±1.0), CYE ranged from 0 to 106 (mean±SD, 10.5±13.9), and SEI ranged from 0 to 318 (mean±SD, 24.4±36.0). Retrospective measures showed moderate agreement with total household smokers reported in childhood (ICC, 0.58 to 0.62). The retrospective measures were weakly but significantly (p<0.05) correlated with participants' smoking (r=0.13 to 0.15) and lung function (r= -0.05 to -0.06).

CONCLUSIONS

The retrospective passive smoking questionnaire showed reasonable reliability and validity. This measure may be useful for epidemiological studies.

Organizational capacity for change in health care: Development and validation of a scale

BACKGROUND

We do not have a strong understanding of a health care organization's capacity for attempting and completing multiple and sometimes competing change initiatives. Capacity for change implementation is a critical success factor as the health care industry is faced with ongoing demands for change and transformation because of technological advances, market forces, and regulatory environment.

PURPOSE

The aim of this study was to develop and validate a tool to measure health care organizations' capacity to change by building upon previous conceptualizations of absorptive capacity and organizational readiness for change.

METHODOLOGY/APPROACH

A multistep process was used to develop the organizational capacity for change survey. The survey was sent to two populations requesting answers to questions about the organization's leadership, culture, and technologies in use throughout the organization. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to validate the survey as a measurement tool for organizational capacity for change in the health care setting.

FINDINGS

The resulting organizational capacity for change measurement tool proves to be a valid and reliable method of evaluating a hospital's capacity for change through the measurement of the population's perceptions related to leadership, culture, and organizational technologies.

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS

The organizational capacity for change measurement tool can help health care managers and leaders evaluate the capacity of employees, departments, and teams for change before large-scale implementation.